Francis` announcement will give all priests full authority to absolve Catholics contrite about their role in a procedure that the church considers a grave "moral evil." In the United States, many priests already have that power, but Vatican officials portrayed Tuesday`s announcement as "a widening of the church`s mercy."
"What`s new is that Pope Francis, at least for the Year of Mercy, is universalizing this permission," said the Rev. James Martin, a Jesuit priest and editor-at-large at America magazine in New York. "Just as notable is his pastoral, compassionate and understanding tone towards women who have had abortions."
The Pope`s policy does not change church doctrine and applies only to the Year of Mercy, a centuries-old Catholic practice during which believers may receive special indulgences for their sins. The mercy year begins on December 8 and runs through November 20, 2016. Vatican officials said it is possible the pontiff will allow the abortion policy to continue in perpetuity.
In his short statement, the Pope said he sympathizes with "women who have resorted to abortion," believing that they have no other option. "I am well aware of the pressure that has led them to this decision."
The Catechism of the Catholic Church says that person who procures an abortion incurs automatic excommunication, a penalty that often only a bishop can lift. Some experts in the Catholic canon law expressed confusion about the practical effects of the Pope`s announcement.
Edward Peters, a canon lawyer at Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit, said Francis` statement seems to assume that the "sin" of abortion and the "crime" of abortion are treated equally under church law.
But Peters said priests have been empowered to forgive the sin, which most often applies to women who have an abortion, since 1983, when the code of canon law was revised.
It`s the canonical crime of abortion, which Peters said more aptly applies to abortion providers, that would incur automatic excommunication and require a bishop`s intervention.
In an explanatory article, a consultant to the Vatican Press Office agreed that, under current church law "in many cases" an abortion "may be absolved as would any other serious sin."
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